Three Unexpected Architectural Adventures for the Holidays

With friends and family visiting town, you probably already know
of some of the Chicago traditions. You can always look at the holiday
windows of Macy's on State Street, go shopping on the Mag Mile, and
brave the cold for ice-skating in Millennium Park. But a magical part of holiday
traditions can also be the spaces that we step into,
and I'd like to give you some alternative architectural explorations for your
holiday season.

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Christkindlmaket in Daley Plaza

If you visit the Christkindlmarket in Daley Plaza, you can pair
your downtown activity with a tour of the "Chapel in the Sky"
tour of the Chicago Temple Building, located just across Washington street.
Tours are offered every day of the week at 2pm. The tour guide takes you to the
top of the skyscraper, then transfers you to a smaller elevator so that you can
reach the chapel on the 26th floor. From the window, you can then look down on
that Chriskindlmarket! The First United Methodist Church offers the tour for
free, and it takes just about a half an hour.

The Driehaus Museum

The Driehaus Museum, which
is inside the Gilded Age Nickerson mansion near the Mag Mile, has
several special holiday activities. Find out what life in December in
the late 1800s would have been like with costumed servants sharing holiday
customs, including cookie recipe and special fashions of the time. You'll
encounter them 11am-3pm, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in December. Also
on Saturday, December 14 and Saturday, December 21 families can pay a visit to
a historic-style Santa in the Ballroom, 9am-3pm.

Indoor Achitectural Tour with Chicago Detours

While a tour may not come to the forefront of your mind for a
holiday activity, my tour company offers indoor architectural tours so
that you can still explore Chicago without having to freeze. Our Loop
Interior Architecture Tour goes by the holiday windows of Macy's, and you
encounter lots of holiday cozy cheer over drinks on the Chicago Historic Bar
Tour.

The cold weather makes me crave dim sum, and few people know
about an awesome architectural excursion just a few blocks from Chinatown. You
can tour the Second Presbyterian Church three days a week. You'll see
stained glass Tiffany windows that are like glowing paintings, as well as the
arts-and-crafts-style interior design. Tours are Wednesday from 1pm-3pm,
Saturday 1pm-3pm, Sunday 12:15pm-2:15pm.

With whatever holiday activity you desire in Chicago this
holiday season, remember that both good company and good architecture can make
for a memorable experience.

Author: Amanda Scotese

Amanda Scotesestarted the tour company Chicago Detours, so she can have a legitimate excuse for wandering Chicago and geeking out on architecture. She dug in to anything Chicago, especially architecture and urban geography, through the Masters of Arts Program in the Humanities at the University of Chicago. Her travel writing has appeared in Rick Steves' Italy travel guidebooks, Trazzler, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, and the Chicago Detours blog.